Councils to be named and shamed

Local
authorities in Scotland are to run the risk of being publicly named if they
fail to meet the Scottish executive’s guidelines on education for all looked
after children, according to an announcement by Cathy Jamieson, minister for
education and young people.

Last
year, the first joint social services and education report by Her Majesty’s
Inspectorate, Learning with Care,
found that looked after children were being educationally failed by most
councils. This resulted in the executive awarding each council additional
education funds – £500 per child looked after in a family and £2,500 for every
child in a residential setting.

In
October last year councils were asked to achieve the report’s recommendations.
These included a teacher being designated in each school to champion looked
after children’s needs, 100 per cent of looked after children to receive
full-time education, and social work jointly with education to comply fully
with a care plan for each child.  Now
Jamieson has given local authorities to the end of this year to achieve these
recommendations or risk being named publicly.

Of
the recommendations Jamieson said: “None of these need new resources. None of
this is new. All are good practice and I am asking all councils to meet these
recommendations by the end of the year.”

As
of this year, a progress report will be provided on each of the 32 councils
within the annual Social Services Inspectorate report to be published in
August. Councils are also being obliged to provide a written report to the
executive on their own progress by December. In the meantime, national seminars
will be run to enhance collaboration between social work and education
departments. 

 

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